* O'Rourke took on additional duties as secretary to the Board of Regents

Two years after a controversial tuition-funded raise for University of Colorado Chancellor Phil DiStefano, he has received another raise, and some regents are questioning -- again -- how university executives are being compensated.

Effective July 1, DiStefano, the top administrator on the Boulder campus, received a $17,505 raise, bringing his annual salary to $406,505.

The increase is significantly less than the $49,000 raise two years ago, and CU officials say the chancellor's salary is well deserved and still below the average for chancellors at comparable schools across the country.

Chancellor Phil DiStefano
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JEREMY PAPASSO
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The Camera, through an open records request, obtained a report that was given to regents in an executive session earlier this summer and detailed raises for chancellors and vice presidents throughout the CU system. Because the report accompanied personnel discussions, it was handed out to regents behind closed doors.

"I was surprised to see some of the positions that received pay raises," said Regent Sue Sharkey, R-Castle Rock, in an interview Thursday. "That wasn't my understanding. Had it been, I would not have supported the compensation pool."

Although the regents approved the $6.7 million compensation pool -- which also makes 3.1 percent merit-based raises available for faculty members -- the board doesn't dictate how it's spent.

Last year, officials imposed salary caps so that administrators earning $175,000 or more were ineligible for the tuition-funded raises. This year, though, no such caps were in place, and President Bruce Benson awarded merit and market raises to his administration. DiStefano received a 3.1 percent merit raise plus a 1.4 percent market raise.

Benson -- a self-made oil and gas tycoon -- year after year has turned down salary increases and is earning $359,100 this year, which is lower than his starting pay in 2008. During the recession, administrators took a pay cut. Benson once again took no raise this year and instead spread out the money to enhance the salary pool for his direct reports, said CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue.

The market increases that complement the merit increases are intended to help bring CU employees more in line with their peers at comparable universities, McConnellogue said.

Boulder campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard pointed to DiStefano's accomplishments over the past year that he said warrant the raise, including "bold innovations" and "tough management choices."

DiStefano launched the Office of Performance Improvement this year as a way to maximize efficiency at the flagship school and will be unveiling a new office to partner with industry to boost private research sponsorships, Hilliard said. The Boulder campus is also expecting an increase in the size of its incoming freshman class and attributes it partly to new scholarships for top Colorado students.

DiStefano also made the decision to "change leadership" in the athletic department, Hilliard said. Athletic Director Mike Bohn was forced to resign in late May, and officials say they believe the change will help put the department on more solid financial footing.

"We think the chancellor is providing tremendous value to the taxpayers, to our students and to the campus -- particularly this year," Hilliard said.

DiStefano's salary was below the median pay for his peers at colleges across the country and that of his counterpart at Colorado State University, Tony Frank, who earns $450,000. In the 2012 salary roundup completed by the Chronicle of Higher Education, DiStefano was listed as No. 137 on the list, and the median salary for his job type was $421,395.

But some regents say they want the compensation pool to be used to retain faculty members.

In April, the Board of Regents voted 6-3 to approve an 8.7 percent tuition increase, bringing annual rates for in-state students in the College of Arts and Sciences to $8,760. Following the tuition vote, the board approved a 3.1 percent merit-based compensation pool for faculty members and exempt employees. The state required a 2 percent raise for classified employees, plus an additional 1.6 percent raise available but based on performance.

Regent Jim Geddes, R-Sedalia, was among the regents who voted against the tuition increase. In an interview Thursday, he said: "If it hadn't been for the salary and benefit increases, we would have had a more minimal tuition increase."

The tuition increase is expected to generate an extra $20 million in revenue for the Boulder campus and will be used to pay for mandatory increases -- including pay raises for state employees and utilities as well as modest investments in financial aid, maintenance projects and the new scholarships for high-achieving, in-state students. The mandatory increase for state employees is costing CU roughly $3 million.

Geddes said he was under the impression that the raises from the general compensation pool would be distributed more evenly to faculty and staff members.

"My thoughts were that it would be more equally distributed among those who hadn't had much of a raise over the past few years," Geddes said.

Sharkey said she was expecting the salary pool to compensate employees who hadn't received increases or for employees who were dramatically underpaid.

"It was my understanding the salary pool increase was going to be for faculty and mid-level employees," she said.

Prior to the tuition vote, DiStefano told the board that dozens of faculty members were being recruited by other universities that were able to offer better pay.

In addition to their salaries, the chancellors receive expense allowances.

Chancellors Don Elliman, of the Denver campus, and Pam Shockley, of the Colorado Springs campus, both received expense allowances of $35,000. DiStefano is allotted a $10,000 expense allowance -- less than the other chancellors, McConnellogue said, because he lives in the university residence.

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